I recently had a fun conversation with Joelle Carter who plays the role of Ava Crowder in FX Network’s new show “Justified” which, as of today’s posting has been granted a season two. It’s the highest rated drama on FX Network. Carter is an accomplished actress that has been acting in film, television and theatre for the past decade. Carter can be seen in such feature cult favorites as “High Fidelity” and “American Pie 2”, and indies “Swimming” and “Lisa Picard is Famous”. In addition, Carter has starred in numerous television projects, including the controversial series “Wonderland” created by Peter Berg (“Friday Night Lights”). It was funny because she surprised me by calling me directly, usually people call first and say “so and so is on the line.” Here are some fun things that I learned during our conversation. Justified airs on FX Network and was just renewed for a 2nd Season – Check your local listings.
- People love them some Ava. You just don’t know 100% what she’s about and what she’s going to do next. She seems so soft and then she does something completely different. She doesn’t know ultimately where the character is going so she plays her as she is currently without much idea what the full back story is. She didn’t have to do much research for the part because she’s from the south herself and knew a lot of people like Ava growing up. So she’s playing the character “off the seat of her pants.”
- Joelle is originally from Augusta, Ga (my father’s hometown) and moved to New York to become a model. When she left modeling she thought she’d get into the stable world of acting and boy was she wrong. Joelle really didn’t appreciate the opportunities that modeling gave her – like the ability to travel the world, make connections, etc. Now she does.
- She’s always been a fan of Elmore Leonard; it’s what really attracted her to Justified, that and the fact that she’s always wanted to work with Timothy Olyphant. She laughs at me when I told her I always found Olyphant to be creepy. Anyone can have good chemistry with him. He’s really giving and open, and have never been to the set where he projects his mood onto someone else.
- Her audition process was fairly easy and straightforward – she had one addition that they put on tape and she didn’t hear from them for weeks, when she was told she got the part
- Joelle lives in LA and Justified is filmed in Pittsburg, but set in Kentucky. Go figure. She said she was told that rural Pittsburg looks a lot like Kentucky, but she’s never been. Actually, only the Pilot was shot in Pittsburgh, the rest of the show is filmed in LA.
- When asked about one of the show’s central themes that everyone wants to get out of Kentucky, she could relate because that’s how she felt when she lived in Augusta.
- The cast and crew hung out a lot while in Pittsburgh, but once the show stops taping everyone goes their separate ways. They finished filming all the episodes the week the show premiered.
- Right now she’s working on renovating her house; she was just offered a part in NY. But turned it down because she and her hubby are getting ready to adopt a baby.
- The great thing about Graham (Exec Producers) and the Writers is they are open to ideas. She isn’t tempted to write an episode but is intrigued by the idea of eventually directing one. Even though this is based on Elmore Leonard’s writings the writers of this show have a lot of leeway and they change a lot of things at the last minute. It’s not total improve but they are willing to let you ad lib.